Syaoran's Little Wolf
by Kawaii Selene
Summary: Sakura has been leading a double life of an average girl and of a Card Mistress, but after their field trip Sakura’s now living a third life: as Syaoran’s pet.
1. Jusenkyo Springs

**Author's Note:** Well I finally decided to make my summer industrious and what better way than to write fics! First off I'd like to say that I will not have this fic beta-edited because the reason I'm writing this is because I'm waiting for the fics that I had my beta edit.

**Chibi Heero:** Man this is so long! I bet it's going to be borrriiiinggg!

**Kawaii Authoress: **You're supposed to be supporting my fic! Besides I'm only at the introduction part! The fun part will be in the next chapter!

**Summary:** Sakura has been living a double life of an average girl and of a Card Mistress, but after their field trip Sakura's now living a third life: as Syaoran's pet.

**Legend:** "speech" 'thought' _"wolf speaking"_

**Warning:** This fic is AU so expect some OOC-iness

**Chapter 1: Jusenkyo Springs**

"Welcome to the springs of Jusenkyo!" The tour guide announced with a cheerful smile before he lead them to the many different springs inside the museum. "Of course we all know that the real spring of Jusenkyo is in China, but this museum was made to look like the Cursed Springs so tourist won't have to go far to see the many different springs."

"Ne Tomoyo why did the guide call the springs Cursed Springs? " Sakura asked as she held on tighter onto Tomoyo's sleeve, "Could it be that there are- g-ghosts h-here?"

"Actually Sakura," Naoko piped as she adjusted her eyeglasses "The reason why they are called Cursed Springs is because many have drowned and died in these springs and they say that the spirits remain in those springs. And when a person enters a spring the spirit kills them and takes over their body!"

"HOOOOOOOEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" The whole class stopped talking and the tour guide stopped talking, all eyes were on Sakura Kinomoto.

"Ms. Kinomoto I suggest that you keep your excitement and stop disrupting the tour."

"Hai Terada-sensei." Sakura mumbled, bowing in apology to her teacher. A few students, mainly those who know her, just laughed and considered the action normal; but those who didn't care to know her, mainly the upperclassmen only whispered gossips of how stupid she looked and acted.

"All right all Seniors (1) follow me to the other side of the springs while the juniors stay on this side with Ms. Kaho." Terada announced leading the seniors batch.

"Sakura-chan? Daijobou?" Tomoyo asked when she noticed Sakura looking down on the ground. In response the auburn-haired girl only turned and plastered a cheery smile on her face. "Hai!"

"All right children, 1,000 years ago a young wolf drowned in this very spring!" the tour guide cried as he told the legends behind each spring in Jusenkyo. "And they say that whoever bathes in this spring will have the spirit of the wolf!"

Upon hearing that Sakura inched herself away from the spring not wanting to gain spirit of a dead wolf, "Tomoyo-chan…" she cried holding onto her best friend for dear life. Tomoyo gave her a warming smile and said, "Sakura-chan you shouldn't be afraid remember that the original Jusenkyo Springs are in China. This is only an imitation of the springs, so even if you fall in there you won't turn into a wolf." 

"Oh. Sumimasen I feel so silly." Sakura replied as she rubbed the back of her head. She had forgotten that they were inside the museum. "Daijobou Sakura-chan, let's go the line is moving." Tomoyo replied as she pulled Sakura's hand, but what she failed to realize was that Sakura was going the other direction at the same time.

The force made Tomoyo release the other girl into one of the cursed springs.

"Sakura!" The worried teen turned to her class but found that they had gone to the other spring, she looked back into the spring hoping for Sakura to surface but when she saw nothing she hurried to get help.

Sakura choked on the water as she tried to swim up the surface; somehow she was being pulled downwards. 'What's happening? Why can't I swim?' she thought paddling her way upwards when she began to feel some warmth emitting from the spring! 'Nani?'

The warm sensation washed over her in a second and soon she was able to break free from the spring. She climbed up out of the water and started looking for Tomoyo. 'Tomoyo? I wonder where she could be?'

Sakura decided to take a walk, when she noticed that her clothes were all in the spring! 'HOE! I'm not wearing anything!' she hurriedly ran back toward the spring but the moment she looked into the water, the reflection she was expecting to see was NOT there.

_"HHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! What happened to me? Why do I look like some kind of wolf? Is this really my reflection?"_ Sakura felt like a strong bolt of lighting hit her_ "The curse of the spring!"_

Just then she heard someone approaching, she got up and hurried to hide behind one of the rocks near the spring not wanting to be seen soaking wet by any of her friends. "Sakura-chan? Oh Eriol I'm so worried, what if she hasn't come out of the water yet?"

"Don't worry Tomoyo Sakura's a good swimmer, I'm sure she must've swam out of the spring by now." Sakura's eyes widened as she heard the voice of her two friends. 'Tomoyo! Eriol!' Sakura's mind screamed.

Sakura hurriedly ran out from her hiding place and cried _"Tomoyo, Eriol, I'm so glad you're here!"_ "Hey there little fellow! What are you doing in here?" Eriol greeted as he patted Sakura's head. 'I almost forgot, I'm a dog now so Eriol can't possibly understand me! Oh no! Now I'll never be able to change back!' Sakura thought a sad moan escaped her throat.

Eriol then noticed the sudden change of expression of the small animal and he turned to look at it. "What's the matter? Why are you so sad?"

"Eriol could you please stop minding that dog! Sakura must be out cold somewhere-"

"It's a baby wolf (2) not a dog." Eriol replied giving the wolf a closer inspection. 'Ah, so it's a girl…and it has GREEN eyes?'

"Tomoyo, isn't this the spring where a baby wolf drowned?" Eriol asked turning to the frantic brunette.

"Yes why?"

"And you say that Sakura fell in this spring?"

"Yes Eriol what are you getting at?" She cried with a very worried tone, "I all ready told you all these things."

"Tomoyo, I think I just found Sakura." Eriol replied uncertainly as he present the wolf to Tomoyo. The wolf in turn gave a happy bark and started licking Eriol's hand.

_"Eriol you're right! You're so good! Ah I'm saved!"_

"But how could she turn into a wolf? This isn't the real spring of Jusenkyo!"

"Didn't you know? They transferred water from the real Jusenkyo spring to this imitation spring."

"Okay, then do you think you can break the curse?" Tomoyo asked as she looked down pitifully on her best friend- turned- wolf. Sakura in turn looked back with sad eyes before barking at her. _"Don't be sad Tomoyo, I'm okay."_

"Maybe, but I'll have to look for the proper spell; but she can temporarily return to human form with hot water. I'll ask the office for some hot water do you think you can get Sakura some clothes?"

In their hurry to get the things they both forgot to take Sakura with them._ "Wait! Guys what about me? Don't leave me here! Tomoyo! Eriol!"_ Sakura cried looking at the direction Eriol went into and then at Tomoyo's unsure of whom to follow.

Finally she decided to run after Tomoyo, but since she was still new to being four-legged she didn't know how to run as fast as she wanted and tripped on the slippery floor causing a few others to stare at a furry red ball. 

Syaoran only heaved a heavy sigh for the umpteenth time as his cousin, Meiling, forced him to buy her a souvenir from the souvenir shop. "Meiling I'm telling you I can't buy you that mood ring! If you wanted it you should've brought your own money."

"But Syaoran! I'm your fiancée and I want that ring! That ring will be the symbol of your eternal love for me…"

Syaoran droned out his fiancée's useless love talk, as he noticed a small red fur ball being chased by a mob of girls!

_"Li!"_ Sakura cried as she tried to run toward the handsome uppeclassman, _"Li! Help me!"_ The wolf continued to yelp and hid behind Syaoran's leg. The girls immediately stopped and groaned and turned back to whatever they were doing. "Awwwww, he already has an owner."

The Chinese only looked at the tired wolf, and started to pat its head. He has always been attracted to wolves; he was after all named after them. "Did those mean girls scare you?" the small wolf only gave a whimper as a reply, earning herself a chuckle. 'Did Li-kun just laugh?'

"Are you alone little fellow?"

'Why is Syaoran being so kind? Is he always like this with animals?' Sakura thought as she enjoyed Syaoran's ministrations. 'A little more to the left, ah that's the spot.' Ever since Sakura was chosen to be the Card Mistress Syaoran has been a little hostile toward Sakura. And now that he was being kind, 'Better enjoy it while I still can.' 

Sakura was then surprised when she felt herself being lifted into the air. 'What the-?' "I guess I'll be taking you home with me, little fellow. And when we get home we'll have a nice HOT bath TOGETHER, what do you think? "

_"NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"_

**Author's Note:** Uh-oh so what's happens to Sakura now that Syaoran's planning to give her a nice HOT bath WITH him!

Please R/R and give me some suggestions on what you want to happen

**(1)** I know Japanese High school only has three years, but I'm not so sure…so will stick with the Western style of grading. However for their classes will stick with the Japanese style and that is: they're stuck in one room having the SAME classes. Understood? ;)

**(2)** I don't know what you call a baby wolf? Is it a pup?

Daijobou- I'm not so sure, but if this is mentioned in a questioning tone it means "Are you okay?" if it is mentioned like a statement it means "It's all right" or "Everything's all right." Correct me if I'm wrong.

Sumimasen- Excuse me/ my behavior, Pardon me, it's sometimes considered as sorry.

Nani- What?


	2. Syaoran's Pet

**Author's Note: ** I don't believe it! I never imagined receiving so many reviews for just the first chapter! I love you guys; you're all so sweet and so kind!

Ummm I made a few changes in the last chapter because I got a few things wrong.

**Chibi Heero: ** Mainly she called the Jusenkyo Springs, Jyuunishi! I can't believe it! This is the second time you got things mixed up! BAKA!

**Disclaimer: ** I don't own the Jusenkyo springs, nor Ranma ½'s plot

**Kawaii Authoress (crying): ** WAH! Why are you so mean to me? I didn't mean to get those things wrong, it's not my fault they both have 'J's and 'U's!

**Chibi Heero: ** Stop crying! SHUT UP! You're gonna flood the whole fic! HEEELLLPPP!

**Legend: ** "speech" 'thought' _wolf speaking_

**Chapter 2: Syaoran's Pet**

"Meiling I'm so worried! Ever since we got out of the museum, he's been afraid of me." Syaoran cried as he tried to coax the little wolf to come out from behind the car seat when they got home. When he heard no reply, Syaoran turned to find that Meiling was all ready inside the house.

"C'mon puppy don't worry I won't hurt you. Come here." Syaoran whispered as he slowly approached the frightened cub (1) and carried it inside the house.

_ "Noooooo! Let me go! I don't wanna take a bath! Nooooooooooo!" _

"Syaoran can you stop that thing from howling! I swear my ear drums are going to burst!" Meiling shouted as she descended the stairs wearing a pair of pink Chinese top and pedal pants.

"Meiling do you think he's sick?" Syaoran asked worriedly as he carried the wolf like he would a baby. Sakura however tried to get on her legs and when she was right-side up again she immediately bit Syaoran's hand and ran to hide behind the TV.

"OW! He bit me!"

_ "That's for calling me a he, AND for trying to give me a hot bath." _

"Maybe he's mad at you because you keep calling HER a HIM."

"Nonsense! I would've known if he's a she."

"Have you checked?"

"Well no, but I assume-"

"You assumed? You're such a sexist Syaoran, no wonder SHE'S mad at you." Meiling snorted as she walked into the kitchen.

Slightly annoyed, Syaoran grabbed the pup harshly and hoisted her into the air, "Is this the thanks I get for rescuing you from all those girls at the museum! I'm not going to hurt-oh! You ARE a girl!" Syaoran grinned.

'He looked at my! PERVERT!' _ "Pervert! How dare you look at my-! Let me go!" _ Sakura continued to bark angrily at the Chinese as she wiggled to get out of his firm grip.

Syaoran sighed as he slowly set her down on the carpeted floor, "Fine, you obviously don't like me." Once on the floor the young wolf cocked her head to the side as if questioning his actions.

"I mean go, leave me, you obviously don't like me because you keep trying to bite me!" Syaoran scolded as he sat down on one of the plush chairs in the room, and with that the poor puppy hurried to find a hiding place in the mansion.

Just then Meiling returned eating a slice of cake, "Where's the noisy animal?" she asked when she noted the silence in the room.

"I don't know…hiding somewhere from me. Meiling can I ask you one thing?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"How can you win a girl's affection?"

Thinking that her cousin was pertaining to her an idea came into mind, "Well Syaoran most girls like jewelry. I'm sure if you buy that GIRL a necklace or a RING I'm sure she's bound to like you."

"Meiling that's a great idea! Tell Wei that I'll just be out for a while."

SsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSs

"Great just great, what am I going to tell father? And what's going to happen to Sakura?" Touya cried as he paced back and forth in the living room burning a hole through the floor. 

"Touya could you please calm down? I'm trying to locate Sakura's aura and I can't concentrate with you-"

"Calm down! You want me to calm down? Tell me Eriol how can I CALM down if my little sister is out there somewhere as a wolf cub? And that's not all! What if some guy decided to give her a HOT bath and sees her naked? Can you guarantee me that he won't take advantage of her? So don't tell me to calm down!" Touya cried grabbing Eriol by the collar giving him the iciest glare he could manage, whilst Eriol remained poised and looked back coolly at Touya's dark pools.

"Touya-kun yamete kudasai. Eriol-kun is doing everything he can to find Sakura…and I know that Sakura-chan can take care of herself, so you shouldn't worry. She'll come home." Tomoyo reassured as she pried Touya's hands off the other's collar. 

SsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSs 

"Ohohoho!" Meiling laughed as she tried to eat her dinner, her thought then shifted to Syaoran making her blush profusely ignoring her food. 'I can't believe Syaoran finally decided to buy me an engagement ring! He's so sweet…I'm falling in love with him all over again.'

Just then Sakura came out of her hiding place and started running around the dining room _ "Anou, Meiling can you feed me?" _ Sakura whimpered as she laid a paw on the other's leg, her eyes pleading.

"Not right now!" she shouted slightly pushing the cub away, but the puppy only whimpered louder "Fine, I get it! Wei-san could you feed this puppy I think it's hungry." 

"Yes ma'am." 

Just then Syaoran walked inside the house, as Wei was about to carry Sakura off into some other room. "Wei-san could you wait one moment please, I have something for her." Syaoran called as he brought out a long rectangular box out of his pocket. 

Meiling clapped her hands before holding them both our to him, "So what did you get me?" she asked with a big smile plastered on her face. Chocolate eyes looked back at her curiously, "What?"

"My gift! You were asking me how to win a girl's affection and of course that only means you want to win MY affection!" 

"Oh! Hahaha! I'm sorry Meiling but this isn't for you." Meiling's face faulted as she watched Syaoran take Sakura from Wei and set her down on the table. 

In return Sakura looked up excitedly at him, her tail wagging from left to right. _ "Did you get something for me?" _ Sakura barked, giving Syaoran a little lick.

It didn't take long for Sakura to realize the meaning of what she had done, 'Did I just kiss Li-kun? I didn't even know that I did that!'

"Aha! Isn't she very smart? She already knows that I got something for her." He chuckled as he opened the box revealing a black choker with a golden heart pendant on the center with an engraving at the front: Hana (2) Li.

"It's your new collar Hana, do you like it?" he asked as he wrapped the collar around the puppy's neck who in turn barked happily as she licked Syaoran's face.

'So he named me Hana…well the name sounds nice.' Sakura thought happily. 

"Isn't it beautiful Meiling? Now you officially belong to me! It's real gold you know." 

SsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSs 

Inside his bedroom Hana kept barking and running around, "I wonder what ticked Meiling off?" Syaoran wondered out loud as he took off his shirt. 

'Oh no he's taking off his clothes! I mustn't see!' Hana's mind raced as she tried to look for a hiding place, conveniently tucking herself under the bed. 

"Hana? Hana where are you it's time to take a bath." Wrapping a towel around his waist Syaoran searched behind the furniture for his pet. "Aha! You shouldn't be hiding under there! Look at you, now you're covered in dust!" he scolded as he dusted Hana off making her sneeze.

_ "NNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I DON'T WANT A BATH!" _ The young cub continued to wail as she tried to squirm out of her owner's grip. 

"Hana stop struggling I might drop you." 

'If he drops me in the water he'll find out that I'm a-!' she balked when an idea came into her. 'Li-kun I hope you'll forgive me, but I don't want you to find out!' Immediately she buried her fangs deeply into Syaoran's hand. 

"OUCH! You bit me!" Syaoran scolded accidentally dropping Hana into the tub of hot water, all of a sudden the whole tub was covered with smoke. 'What the? Hana?' 

After the smoke disappeared Syaoran with his hand in his mouth –tending his bite wound- was staring wide eyed at the person in his bathtub! There was Sakura inside his tub…NAKED! 

"EH K-Konbawa Li-kun." The Card Mistress greeted as she lowered herself into the water in order to hide herself, at the same time trying to stop her face from reddening. 

Syaoran on the other hand could feel his face growing hot from embarrassment and felt a trickle of liquid run down his nose; he didn't realize that it was his own blood. His blood rushing towards his face and to another organ in his body. Who wouldn't be embarrassed? Sakura was in his tub wearing NOTHING whilst he was wrapped in only a TOWEL!

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" 

**Author's Note: ** Can you imagine Syaoran screaming like that? D LOL He's such a gentleman that he actually got scared of the sight! But what will he do now that he knows that his pet is none other than Sakura herself?

**(1)**Thanks for those who replied about my question, but since many answered cub and pup I'll be using both terms, since they are both correct

**(2)**I'm keeping the flower names…Hana is Japanese for flower. And whenever Sakura is in her wolf form I'll call her Hana.

Yamete kudasai – please stop

Konbanwa- Good evening

**Reply to Reviews: **

**All: ** I hate to address you all like this but almost all of you said the same thing so I just want to say thank you for liking it and saying that it's funny. And I hope that you like this chapter just as the last one and that I can read more of your kind reviews because I really enjoyed them and they really made my day. )

I love you guys (cries and hugs all reviewers)

Before I begin some of you might want to read the reply for A.J. because it might help in clarifying some misunderstandings on the fic…that is if you got confused.

**A.J.- ** You might have missed the warning but I said that this fic is AU (Alternate Universe) so though the fic seems close to the original anime/mangga there will still be some slight differences. Like Syaoran being older than Sakura. And actually I saw the second movie, and it was soooo romantic! And yes I have seen the Japanese version.

**lor-** now you know what happened, and thanks so much for mentioning the Jusenkyo, if it wasn't for you those springs would have remained Jyuunishi.

**Mystic Moon Empress- ** Glad you thought it was funny, actually I did get the idea from the show Ranma ½

**rose-** actually I wanted to put Syaoran in the tub as well…but I think that would be too harsh. I mean Syaoran would've fainted and drowned if I did that, but I would have loved to see that! LOL

**Daisuke-fan-girl-** sorry I don't know Tokyo mew mew, but thanks for adding my fic to your favorites, I'm so touched.

**Elithil-** Glad to have your attention, I'm touched that you took notice of my fic. 

**shero003-** I was actually going to do what you said, as that was my original plan; but then I decided that the fic will flow better is Syaoran knows. Thanks for the idea though, and hope you keep giving more ideas, that might be of help to my following chapters.

**Umi Kanshisha-** I LOVE wolves too! They're just so cool and so cute and I completely agree with you about them being the best animal out there.


	3. Officially Mine

**Author's Note: **Anyway I already posted another chapter of Void so I'm going to start typing this! Ummm first I'd like to ask everyone to try and read Void…Chapter 1 is a little bit sloppy but I promise you it gets better on the following chapters. And please read my GW fic **Take My Hand**…it's really very sweet and romantic.

**Legend: **"speech" 'thought' _"wolf speaking/ barking, howling, whining" 'wolf thought'_

**Kawaii Authoress: **Actually I wasn't planning for Syaoran to discover the secret, but I figured I'd have more fun if he knew. And I really didn't expect so many reviews! eyeballs pops out of its sockets

**Chibi Heero: **Eeeewww…put those things back in there! For a girl you're very disgusting.

**Kawaii Authoress:** For a perfect soldier you sure are very squeamish!

**Chapter 3: Syaoran's Pet**

Syaoran tried hard to concentrate on the ringing of the phone on the other side, but he was failing miserably. Who wouldn't? Sakura was on his BED wearing nothing but an oversized shirt and some shorts that could barely cover those silken legs of hers. Even worse what lies underneath.

'Stupid teenage hormones...' He thought as he heard someone answer the phone 'Stupid photographic memory.'

"What do you want?" a cold voice snapped from the other line; making Syaoran roll his eyes.

"Hello to you too, Touya, anyway since you seem to be busy with something I'll just get straight to the point. I just called to tell you that your sister is safe and that she is on her way home."

"NA-" Before Touya could continue Syaoran pressed the END button and plopped the phone on his bed where Sakura was sitting down, with her head bowed. Quietly he walked toward the chair, once seated he rested his chin on his hands, while his eyes was focused solely on the occupant on the bed like she was some kind of prey.

Sakura could only squirm under Syaoran's intense gaze, "Kinomoto-san I hope you don't mind me asking but I want to know how in the world did YOU end up in my TUB?!" he asked in a harsh, and cool tone, his gaze still the same.

Unknowingly her right hand crept up to her neck, her finger trailing her choker, "It's a long story…"

"Then shorten it."

"Uh yeah…right."

After a few minutes of explaining the whole incident about the Jusenkyo Springs to Syaoran and the whole hot and cold water ordeal she was quite surprised to find that he didn't even move a single muscle.

'He's taking this really well…'

"…And Eriol said that he'll look for a cure, but it might take some time. Anou- Li-sempai? I'm really sorry for all the trou-"

"I guess you're saying that I have no puppy after all." Syaoran mentally slapped himself the moment the words left his lips, he didn't even have any time to think! They just came out! His mind was in a state of panic, but he was good enough not to show his emotions in his appearance- so he was able to maintain a calm uncaring demeanor. But deep down he felt like he was screwed…

'Great! Now she's gonna think that I want her to be my pet! Somehow that sounds SO WRONG? Ahhhh! What am I thinking?'

Meanwhile the Card Mistress was slightly thankful for the dimness of the room –the lamp on the bedside table serving as the only light in the room- or else the other would have a rather nice view of her face turning into an exact replica of a tomato. 'What am I going to say? Well Li-kun I still am your pet? Nooooo! That's gonna come out wrong!'

"Shouldn't you get going? I'm sure your BROTHER is worried sick about you."

Sakura looked up slightly thankful that the other had changed the subject, "Hai, I guess I better get going. Arigatou Li-kun. Oh I almost forgot…" Sakura cried as she reached to remove the choker from her neck.

"You can't remove that Kinomoto, there's a combination lock on the collar to make sure that no one will steal the puppy and I never got to see the combination since the wind blew it away, but I didn't think I'd need it to chase the paper since I thought that "Hana" will stay with us for a much longer time." He answered matter-of-factly.

"Gomen."

Syaoran on the other hand was not able to answer back as he watched the hem of his shirt rise –as Sakura stepped on the window ledge- exposing more of her creamy thighs; Sakura just took the silence as a "you're-not-forgiven" answer.

"Ja Li-sempai."

SsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsS

"We were so worried about you Sakura, I'm just so glad that you're safe." Tomoyo whispered as the she the line to the cafeteria moved. "Touya, Eriol and I were looking all over for last night."

"Hai, tell me Sakura how did Syaoran know about the whole 'situation'?"

"Well…um he kinda…gave me…a hot…bath." She answered gripping her food tray for some support as her face turned red.

"HE GAVE YOU A BATH?!?" They yelled in unison earning glares from everyone at the canteen.

Sakura just laughed nervously "Yes…guys that's r-right my d-DAD had to give me a b-BATH in my NIGHTGOWN because I was S-SICK last night! I felt so childish! HAHAHA!"

"Nice save Sakura-san I think everyone's looking away now. Whoa that was close!" Eriol commented as he wiped a brow of sweat causing him to drop the other end of the tray, which caused the food on his tray to fall at the same time splashing cold water on none other than our poor Card Mistress who has now turned into a redheaded pup.

"_Eriol? What did you do?"_

"Eriol what have you done?" Tomoyo cried dropping her food tray as well on the floor.

"I think I just turned her into a wolf again."

"Awwww Eriol is that your pet?" A girl came up noticing the pup on the floor; Hana in turn looked at each of them- and pretty all the students inside the cafeteria crowded around the young pup who only turned her head to the side.

"KKKKKKKKAAAAAAAAAWWWWAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!"

Taking the screams as her cue Hana immediately hurried with a hoard of girls on her tail- literally.

'_I must find Li-sempai!'_

"All right class now I want you to return the papers to its proper owners and when I call out your name tell me your score."

"Ayumi."

"20."

"Do-"

scratch…scratch

Everyone turned to the door where they heard a scratching sound, which was then followed by screams and squeals.

"_Somebody please hide me!"_

"Was that a dog?" the sensei thought loudly as he walked to the door and opened it. And immediately Hana came running inside and stopped right beside Syaoran.

At that moment everyone froze, the students and the teacher turned to look at Syaoran wondering what the puppy had to do with the hottest and coldest guy in school.

Hurriedly the cub ran over and barked lightly at Syaoran. _"Li-sempai please help me! Take me home!"_

Syaoran on the other hand only glared back and very lightly pushed the adorable animal away with his foot. But Hana was not easily deterred, she kept on barking at him trying to gain his attention, but he only continued to ignore her.

"_I didn't want it to come to this but- you made me do it!"_

"ITAI! YOU STUPID DOG! WHY DID YOU BITE ME?!"

"_Well you wouldn't listen to me, besides with these teeth I can do anything I want!"_

"Syaoran is this yours?"

"No, sir. I don't even know what it wants with me."

"The dog seems to know you."

"But I don't- and it's not a dog. It's a cub."

"I don't care what it is, I want this thing out!" he scolded a bit embarrassed by being corrected by one of his students.

"Ah Li-kun, thank goodness…you found my dog! I've been looking all over for her!" Eriol cried as he pushed himself in through the crowd. "I apologize for all the trouble she has caused you, I brought her as a gift, but she got away."

"Really?" The sensei asked, somehow he felt that there's something he's not telling. 'For example how come this puppy comes running in here to find Li.' "Who was the puppy for?"

"Why- um- for Syaoran of course! He said he always wanted to have a wolf so I bought him one!"

SsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsS

"Thank you for helping us Li-sempai, and for letting us hide in your house." Tomoyo uttered as she breathed a sigh of relief.

They were all at Syaoran's living room, with Hana playing with one of the chew toys that Syaoran gave her earlier when she wouldn't stop biting him. After a while Wei walks in with a silver tray with tea and biscuits for the guests; Tomoyo soon takes the liberty of .pouring the tea and handing it out to her companions who were too busy glaring at each other.

Well only one was glaring, the other was simply smiling at his opposite. Realizing that glaring at Eriol won't do him any good Syaoran took a sip from his tea.

"Whatever. So how long will it take you to find out the cure for Sakura's predicament?"

"Actually…I'm not so sure-"

"_Hey I'm hungry too! Give me some food!" _Hana barked cutting Eriol off, she continued to whine and nudge her master's foot with her nose. Slightly annoyed, Syaoran gave in and fed her a piece from his biscuit which she licked off his fingers.

Blushing at the action Syaoran turned to Eriol –who was smiling knowingly at him- coughing he returned the gaze coolly and sought to change the subject. "Eriol there has been something that I've noticed."

"What is it?"

"Sakura- she's acting like a real dog…I mean look at her! She looks so happy just playing with that stupid chew toy that I bought her!"

"Well- if my theory is correct, maybe it's because she's a dog. Sure she's not a real dog, but she's in a dog's body which might be the reason why she also has the same instinct as that of a dog. But she's still the old Sakura, with a little doggy attitude."

Eriol continued to smile his knowing smile, making Syaoran want to hit him in the face; but he just continued smiling while Syaoran continued glaring back.

Without really paying attention to the conversation or at the smiling/glaring contest between the two boys, Tomoyo set down the saucer with some crushed biscuits for Sakura on the floor, "Sakura-chan your food is ready!" she called but Sakura didn't respond; instead she continued to chew on her toy.

"Sakura-chan." She called out again, but still the little fur ball ignored her and focused more on biting on her toy.

"Tomoyo, try calling her Hana; Syaoran did name her Hana after all."

"Uhn. Hana-chan your food is ready."

Proving Eriol's theory correct, Hana approached Tomoyo, _"Arigatou Tomoyo-chan!"_ she barked before eating.

Shaking his head Syaoran thought, 'Great so she thinks she's a real dog, and she thinks that her name is Hana. I just wish I really do have a real dog named Hana.'

"Anyway, I think you've been here long enough, and I'm sure Touya is worried sick over Sakura again, you guys should take her home." Syaoran sighed as he got off his chair and handed Hana to Tomoyo.

"Hai, we'll see you tomorrow Li-sempai. Thank you for all your help today." She replied as they headed to the Main entrance.

"_Huh? Wait, what are you doing? I'm not gonna leave! I'm staying with Syaoran-kun__**1**__!" _Hana barked as she struggled to get away from Tomoyo's grasp.

"I think we really should get going Li-sempai." Tomoyo giggled mistaking Hana's actions for excitement. But when she was about to get out of the door, Hana did something that surprised them all.

She howled. _"NNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"_

She didn't stop howling, and in every time her howling kept getting louder and louder.

"Tomoyo I think she wants to stay with Li-kun!" Eriol suggested.

"What?!?" Tomoyo –and Syaoran- shouted, causing her to drop Hana; who in turn –though she landed on her butt- hurried to get up and ran toward a still shocked Syaoran.

"I think she likes you." Eriol teased before getting into his vehicle as well.

SsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsS

Syaoran just sighed as he entered his bed with a hyper little puppy at his tail. He had extended his training hours to clear his head from the whole "Sakura is your pet" ordeal, exhaustion soon takes over and Syaoran just collapses into his bed.

Immediately getting bored at watching her master lying in bed, Hana gets her chew toy, drops it on the floor, and pulls at his pants to get his attention. _"Syaoran! Let's play!"_

"What do you want?" Syaoran asks a bit annoyed, he looks at Hana and notices the chew toy in her mouth. He reaches for it and throws it up and down into his hand, Hana on the other hand kept her gaze on the ball.

Whenever it would leave his hand she'd get up as if to chase it, but when he catches it she sits back down. Syaoran just couldn't help but smile at the cuteness of Hana's eagerness to play.

"You wanna play fetch?" he asked as he tossed the boy from his one hand to the other, with Hana still keeping her eyes on it.

"_Yes!"_ Hana answered with an eager wag of her tail

"_Yay! Must fetch ball!_

Knowing full well that the ball must've fallen down the stairs and that it would take the cub some time to fetch it Syaoran took the opportunity to take a dip in his tub.

"_I got it! I got it! I got it!" _Hana proclaimed as she ran into the room with the ball in her mouth, but Syaoran wasn't there. So she walked around the room to find him, when she couldn't find him anywhere she just dropped the ball onto the floor and yawned.

"_I never even knew I was tired! I'm going to sleep." _Turning her head to the bed she realized that the bed was too high for her to reach, _"Where am I going to sleep? No way I'm sleeping on the floor!"_

Syaoran walks out of his bathroom wearing black pajama bottoms while drying his hair off with a towel 'Ah! There's nothing like a nice hot bath to clear the mind…' he stops in mid-stride when he saw a small furry little ball trying to climb up to his bed.

"_Itai!"_ She yelped when she hit the floor once again, she looks up at the bed with longing eyes and begins to moan.

Softening at the sight, Syaoran just sighed and lifted the pup up to his bed before settling in it himself. "Oyasumi, Hana-chan."

"_Oyasumi Syaoran-kun!"_ she replied, and placed a small doggy kiss (lick) on her master's cheek.

**Author's Note: **Yes I know, surprising isn't it? I'm alive! Well I've been busy, but I kinda wanted to post something for my birthday; it's kinda like my present to you. And a good present from you guys would be your wonderful reviews or some pics (wink wink)!

I am so sorry for the late update! It's just that I've been so busy lately with school! First few months of school is usually the hectic one especially if you have to handle college application forms and study for the entrance exams! But rest assured I will still be updating my story. I could never let you guys down! hugs all her reviewers

Oh yeah this is all for my anonymous reviewers; I'm willing to give you an author alert on ALL my stories (it's kinda hard to make a story alert). So you just have to leave your email ad and there you go- I'll personally send you an alert. But I'd also like to take this opportunity to invite you ALL to read my OTHER fics that I think you might really enjoy.

**(1) **Well pets have this really big tendency to love their masters very much, so when she's a dog she's VERY personal and comfortable with Syaoran.


	4. Even More Trouble

**Author's Note: **Well summer has been here for like 2 months now, and it's about to end…actually this is my last day, then after the weekend I'm off to my first year in college. So before my summer ends and while the others are still waiting for my other updates, I hope you enjoy this fic of mine.

**Lexicon: **

Ohayou- Morning taken from Ohayou Gozaimasu which means Good Morning

Hai- Yes, it's also used as an expression of paying attention or for calling attention

Sou ka- I see

Baka- Stupid, Idiot but it could mean more and worse, so be careful in using this word

Tadaima- I'm home

**Legend: **"speech" 'thought' _"wolf speaking/ barking, howling, whining" 'wolf thought'_

**Chapter 4: Even More Trouble**

_BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BE-THUD! _

Syaoran slammed the alarm clock with no mercy, but then again the offending machine showed no mercy to him whatsoever when it decided to wake him up.

Once he was sure that the machine would no longer annoy him, he proceeded to return to his sleep and cuddle with his puppy, but the puppy was nowhere in his bed! The realization was enough to wake him completely.

"Hana? Where are you doggie? Here doggie, where are you?" He cried as he searched his bed and his room. 'She couldn't have gone out of the house; maybe she just got hungry and went out…'

"Wei-san?" He called out as he walked down the stairs in search of their butler, turning to the dining room he found Wei who had just finished preparing breakfast.

"Ohayou, Li-sama! Breakfast is ready!" Wei greeted with a bow

Syaoran returned the bow before joining Meiling on the table "Wei-san, have you seen Hana?"

"Oh, yes…actually your two friends Ms. Daidouji and Mr. Hiirizagawa came by here this morning and picked up Hana. They said you asked them to bring her to the vet, and they left you this letter."

"Hum, I sure hope that she didn't have any diseases, or ticks!" Meiling muttered as she stuffed herself with the delicious breakfast laid out on the table.

Syaoran pointedly ignored her and opened the letter, which read:

_Li-kun_

_I hope you'll forgive us for taking Sakura-chan, but we needed to bring her home because Touya and her father were getting worried. I hope you'll understand…_

_Thank you for taking care of her!_

_Daidouji_

Syaoran just sighed and then he noticed that there was another note, this one read:

_Anyway Syaoran I know you're missing you're little Sakura-chan why don't you pay her a little visit? Maybe she's missing you too!_

_P.S._

_You two looked so cute in bed together!_

_Eriol_

Blushing Syaoran crumpled the second letter and threw it away, 'Trust Eriol to always think of something perverted!'

SsSsSsSsSsS

Sakura was currently sitting on her couch, with a sweat drop on her head, her brother fussing over her.

"Are you sure that bastard didn't hurt you at all? I can't believe you stayed the night there! I sure do hope he didn't let you sleep outside his house!" Touya muttered in a soft whisper so their father wouldn't hear, all Fujitaka knew was that Sakura spent the night at Tomoyo's house.

"Hehehe, he wasn't mean to me at all onii-san! He's very kind to me!" She of course left out the part where she slept that night, she highly doubted her brother would be appreciative of his kindness.

"Sakura-chan? Touya, breakfast is ready!" Their father called out from the dining room.

"Hai!" The two replied.

"So Sakura-chan, how was your overnight at Tomoyo's house?" Fujitaka asked with a sincere smile on his handsome features.

"It was fun! We watched some videos, played games and then we ate some cake…"

"Oh, which reminds me, Touya what time do you have to go to the bakeshop?"

"Not until later, we're going to help bake for this wedding. I'll be home somewhere around after lunch."

"Is Yukito going to be there?" Sakura asked excitedly.

Touya smirked, he was a little relieved that his sister still had a crush on his best friend, that would mean that he didn't need to worry about his sister falling for that bastard in a while.

"Of course!"

"Un, maybe I'll drop by and see you guys!"

"Don't bother; your presence might ruin the taste of the cake." He retorted earning himself a kick in the shin.

SsSsSsSsSsS

Since it was a Sunday, Sakura was left alone in their house doing the dishes, in hot water of course, while doing the dishes her thoughts wouldn't stop wandering to the night she spent with Li-kun.

'I wonder why whenever I'm a wolf I'm so drawn to Li-kun? Oh well at least he doesn't seem to mind, I guess he's not so-'

_DING! DONG!_

"Hai, I'm coming!"

Once at the door, she opened it slightly to see who it was only to be surprised that the one standing right behind the door was the object of her thoughts.

"Li-kun?" She murmured as she opened the door to welcome her guest.

Syaoran bowed in greeting towards her, which she returned. Once inside she offered to make some tea, leaving Syaoran by himself in the living room to think. Somehow he just couldn't get his mind off the last thing Eriol said in the letter.

_Maybe she misses you too! _

'What am I going to tell her when she asks me why I'm here? Heck I don't even know how I got here!' Syaoran thought scrunching up his nose as he tried to think of a good excuse.

_Maybe she misses you too! _

'No, I'm not here because of that! She obviously doesn't miss me when she's in her human form…'He was just there because he felt an urge to check how his puppy- Sakura has adjusted to the situation.

"Thank you for waiting, I also got some cake." She cried as she set the tray and started preparing the tea and cake for her guest

Syaoran watched silently as Sakura worked, and somehow he just couldn't stop his mouth from smiling at the sight. 'She'll make a wonderful wife someday…'

"Where's Keroberos?" Syaoran asked, breaking the ice, as he noticed that the Guardian didn't bother to come down at the smell of the cake.

"Oh, he's with Tomoyo right now…he said he didn't want to be left alone with onii-san, onii-san still tends to give him scary looks…" she replied tying to suppress a laugh.

Syaoran just smiled, and returned to drinking his tea, silence reigning on them once more.

"Ne, Li-kun thank you for your hospitality last night," Sakura murmured, feeling a bit awkward. "I don't know why, but I think that whenever I transform into a puppy, I start acting like I've been a real dog all my life! I know it sounds stupid-"

"Iie, Eriol called me earlier; he explained to me that your powers is having an effect with the curse of the Jusenkyo. He thinks that it is probably strengthening the curse which is why whenever you transform into a puppy you begin to act like one."

"Sou ka! But I can still remember the things that happened to me, when I became a puppy…" her voice weakened as she continued on with that sentence, her face reddening.

Surprisingly Syaoran's face and neck had turned pink as well as memories of last night filled his head. To be honest he actually enjoyed Hana sleeping beside him, but there was no way he was going to say that out loud especially to Sakura herself!

"Is that all Eriol-kun told you?"

"Hai, he's still trying to find the spell that could break the curse…" his voice lowered as his eyes followed Sakura's hand which came up her neck to play with the pendant of her choker.

She was playing with Hana's collar, the collar that Syaoran gave her, the collar that marked her as his. 'Is it me or is it getting warmer?'

"Li-kun you're turning red? Are you alright? Do you want something?" She asked with a worried tone, coming closer to him to inspect his temperature. Their closeness did nothing to help Syaoran as it only allowed him a better view of the choker.

In his panic, he pulls back from Sakura and grabs his tea on the table as if nothing happened, "I'm fine Kinomoto-san."

"Okay…would you like some water?" Without waiting for a reply, the card mistress hurried to fetch him a glass of water.

"Don't bother I better get going…I just dropped by to tell you what Eriol told me. Thank you for the tea." Syaoran shouted as he walked towards the door, not really waiting for his hostess to come back with his water.

"Wait, Li-kun! Ah!" she cried as she tripped on the edge of the carpet.

Syaoran tried to save her and catch the glass so that it wouldn't break, but he was too late. By the time he reached Sakura, all he saw was a little red cub sitting on a pile of wet clothes.

'Great! She transformed again!'

"Baka! Why did you get cold water, anyway…I didn't even ask for one!" he scolded the puppy who was just looking up at him with happy eyes, her tongue dangling out the side of her mouth.

And Syaoran knew what that look meant…

"_Syaoran-kun, let's play!" _she barked happily as she started jumping up and down trying to get her master's attention.

Sighing, he kneeled down to pat the dog to distract her; he wasn't in the mood for games right now. Right now he was wondering how to handle this situation, she had transformed into a puppy once again and he really didn't want to bring her back with hot water due to their past experience.

'I guess I should just wait for Touya to come home then.' he thought as he watched the puppy who was just content with being scratched.

Grabbing the cub he got up and sat on the couch and turned on the TV, "Maybe we should watch some TV first while we wait for Touya…"

SsSsSsSsSsS

"Tadaima!" Touya called out as he entered, expecting to see an excited Sakura.

"Sakura? I'm home! Where are you?" he called out, 'That's weird she's always here to greet me, especially when I bring Yukito…'

"Maybe she's watching TV?" Yukito suggested when he heard the sound of the TV, the two then walked into the living room to find that no one was there. But had they checked the couch, they would've seen Syaoran lying on it, with a wolf cub sleeping on his chest.

"Maybe she went out…Yukito why don't you go and watch some TV, and I'll get us some tea." Touya called as he walked into the kitchen.

Yukito just smiled and walked into the living room, but just as he was about to sit on the couch, he saw Sakura's friend sleeping on it.

"You must be here as Sakura's guest…" he whispered to the sleeping figure, he didn't see the need to tell Touya though, knowing that his best friend would just get mad at the teen for being in their house.

Sitting on the opposite chair, Yukito tried to watch TV but he didn't last a single minute before fatigue settled in his system and he soon fell asleep.

Touya walked in the living room holding the teapot in his right hand and two cups with the other hand. "Ne, Yukito we don't have tea anymore, so I just made cof-aaah!"

It seems that Touya too had tripped on their carpet, and though he immediately regained his footing without dropping any of the things he was holding, some of the coffee spilled on the two sleeping occupants on the couch!

The hot temperature of the coffee burning and waking the two from their peaceful slumber as it rained on them.

"ITAI!" Syaoran cried bolting awake in a sitting position, but froze when he noticed that he was looking right into emerald eyes.

A pair of HUMAN emerald eyes…

"What? What happened?" Yukito cried waking from his sleep when he heard Syaoran's scream.

He couldn't believe his eyes, there standing behind the couch was Touya with a teapot in one hand and two cups in the other, and his eyes were glazed with anger as he looked down on the pair currently sitting on their couch.

Sakura was sitting right on Syaoran's lap, and she seemed to be lacking some clothing, making Yukito blush and look away.

Meanwhile Sakura and Syaoran were too shocked to move, they were in such a compromising position and even worse Touya and Yukito was there!

'Yukito-kun?' her mind echoed, panic settled in when she realized that Yukito could see everything and in her haste to cover herself from her crush's view she grabbed the nearest thing she could to shield her…Syaoran.

And as if Syaoran wasn't already feeling awkward with their position earlier, things had gotten worst, when Sakura pulled him so that she was leaning on the couch and his body on top of her, pressing her soft body against his slightly toned built.

To make it worse he could feel Touya's glare intensify ten times more than his usual glare.

"GET. OFF. MY. SISTER!"

**Author's Note: **I hope you guys will forgive my grammatical errors, remember this is the only fic that I don't send to my beta, so you guys could read something while waiting for my other fics while they're getting edited.

Uh-oh! Poor Syaoran, somehow I just can't seem to keep myself from putting Syaoran in such situations!

**Chibi Heero: **I really pity the guy…he has to endure all these torture from you!

**Kawaii Authoress: **Why don't you just shut up? You'll have your share as well…just wait when I get started on your fics…ahahahahaha

**Chibi Heero: **She's crazy! Anyway please leave her a kind review…it just might help with her psychosis…though we all know that she's beyond hope sigh


	5. Kiss

**Author's Notes: **I'm alive! But sadly my sem break is about to come to an end…I've already typed my updates for Void and Wanted: Mother and I've sent them to my beta for some editing.

For CLARIFICATION: Eriol and Syaoran are seniors, and Tomoyo, Meiling and Sakura are junior students.

**Legend: **"speech" 'thought' _"dog bark/talking" 'dog thinking'_

**Lexicon: **sempai-upperclassman  
Mou- a sign of annoyance  
Tasukete- help

**Chapter 5: Kiss**

"Sakura-chan are you really sure about this? I mean what if a teacher catches you?"

Tomoyo and Sakura were currently in the girls' bathroom, and Sakura was holding a glass of cold water above her head. "Yes, Tomoyo, I feel so bad for Li-kun after what my brother did to him last night. And I feel that this is the best way for me to earn his forgiveness. Just be sure to have the letter and the box ready."

"All right, but please be careful."

Sakura nodded in reply, but just as she was about to pour water over herself she was startled to see what Tomoyo had in her hands at the moment. "Uhm…Tomoyo? Don't tell me you're going to record this too?"

"Of course! There's absolutely no way that I'll be passing up such a chance like this! Sakura-chan as a puppy is so kawaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiii!"

Sakura could only sweat drop and decided that she might as well get it over with. "Okay here we go!"

SsSsSsSsS

"Ne, Li-kun do you want to join us for lunch?" A blonde girl named Azumi asked.

"No, thanks, I'm not in the mood."

"Uhm, okay. Too bad, I hear that green vegetable can help make your bones get stronger. Oh well I really hope that your injuries will get better soon." Giggling she rejoined her friends and went out the room to eat lunch somewhere else.

Syaoran rolled his eyes, all day long he has been receiving invites from girls who wanted to nurse his wounds, or "kiss him to make him feel better". He hated it! He didn't need anyone's help when it came to his wounds, he can take care of them just fine! In his annoyance he punched his table lightly, which wasn't exactly his smartest idea ever, the impact caused a jolt of pain to run over his arm, he felt as if it was prickled by a bunch of needles at the same time, reminding him of his injury.

'Stupid Touya…'

Thanks to him, our Chinese cutie was nursing a sprained arm, a bruised head, and an aching leg. And every girl in class was now fussing over him- well they wish they can but thanks to his glare they can only worry over his condition from afar.

Syaoran's sulking was interrupted when he heard the girls' cooing.

"Aaaaaaaawww, that's so cute!"

"Kawaiiiiiiii!"

"I want that!"

He leaned over his table to see what the commotion was about only to find a cub, a very cute and familiar cub. The cub was carrying a bento box on her back with a letter attached to it, she went over to Syaoran's desk and sat just at his feet. Syaoran only glared at the cub, before looking away snobbishly.

"What are you doing here? Get back home."

"_Li-kun I came to apologize to you." _

"No, whatever it is, I'm not taking it. You better go home; I don't want anymore trouble from Touya again."

"_Li-kun, I said I was sorry. Please just accept it. Pleeeeaaaaaase." _Hana whined as she stood, scratching his leg to gain his attention. But when he still ignored her, she started to lick him apologetically.

"Awww isn't that sweet." Eriol cooed as he walked over to Syaoran's table, lifting Hana into his arms, and slowly placing her onto Syaoran's table, earning himself a glare.

"You shouldn't be so mean, see she went to all this trouble just to apologize to you. Look at her. She's very sorry. Look at her."

And Syaoran did, only to meet the cutest apologetic green eyes and he felt his resolve crumble. "No, not the puppy-dog eyes!" then turned to Eriol with an accusing glare, "You tricked me!"

"Hey, you looked."

"You knew I couldn't resist the puppy-dog pout!"

He shouted after Eriol's retreating back, keeping his glare at maximum level. But was completely interrupted when he felt a warm tongue licking his hand, and when he looked down he was faced with Hana's famous puppy-dog pout; it seems that she had it down to a perfection.

"Okay, okay I'll take it just stop it!"

Hana barked happily and jumped at him, licking his face completely. After a few more licks she immediately got down, Syaoran was now wearing a smile on his face as he removed the box from her. Once her mission has been completed Hana gave her owner one last kiss and left the room. Syaoran could only guess where she had gone; removing the note attached, he proceeded to open and read the note.

_Dear Li-kun_

_I'm really sorry about what onii-chan did to you last night, and I hope you enjoy this lunch I made for you. _

_Hope you get better soon! _

_Sakura_

Grinning he opened the bento box and found a delicious lunch of rice balls, daifuki, and some crab sushi, she even packed a chocolate cake for dessert! 'She made all my favorite food.'

"Well?" Tomoyo asked sitting on her best friend's desk, who was currently staring blankly at her desk.

"Well what?"

"Did he like the food? Are you forgiven already?"

"Well…I'm not sure. I just left the food there. I didn't wait for what he might say."

Just as Tomoyo was about to make a reply, the uproar of their female classmates was enough to turn their attention to the source- Li Syaoran was inside their classroom!

Enjoying the perks of being engaged to one of the famous guys in their school- Meiling who was sitting right next to door stood to greet her fiancée thinking that he came there to visit her at same time hoping to get her classmates envious of her; but he only walked past her, "Syaoran, where are you going?"

Syaoran pointedly ignored the whispers, having gotten used to them ever since he transferred there and continued walking towards Sakura's table.

"Sakura he's coming here!"

"Oh crap, maybe he didn't like the lunch I made him! Tomoyo hide me!" she squealed hiding behind her best friend's back, which wasn't exactly the best hiding place.

"Daidouji-san."

"Li-kun." She answered sweetly, continuing to hide her best friend, there was no way she'd let Syaoran hurt her! But when Syaoran motioned for her to move aside, she happily obliged.

Sakura deadpanned. "Tomoyo-chan you were supposed to protect me!"

Tomoyo just smiled her sweet smile once more. 'Well I don't think he's going to hurt her…hehehehe, besides I can get a better angle over here!' she reasoned taking out her video camera.

"L-Li-kun!" she cried when she met his gaze. Syaoran only smirked and placed the empty lunch box on her desk.

"Thank you, it was good." He stated, but before leaving- he thought just for fun to give something in return as well. He planted a quick kiss on the Card Mistress' forehead. Time seemed to have stopped for everyone right after that, all of them looking at the two; Syaoran took it as an opportunity to leave the room.

Once the door to the classroom was closed, Sakura was immediately attacked by every girl in their classroom. Syaoran smirked at Meiling's battle cry, he knew full well the damage the girls could do to Sakura after what he did, and he knew they could do worse than Touya can.

'Now we're even Card Mistress.'

SsSsSsSsSsS

"Mou! Sakura why don't you just use the Shot card on him? That should teach him a lesson to not mess with us!"

"Kero-chan that isn't such a nice thing to say." Tomoyo scolded as she handed a plate of cake to the stuffed ani- I mean Guardian. Then she handed another slice to Eriol, then to Sakura.

"You know, I never knew that those girls can get really crazy…" Eriol added as an afterthought.

"It's okay; I only got a few scratches."

The four were presently eating cake in Tomoeda Park, enjoying the peaceful scenery and the wonderful shade of the Sakura trees that surrounded them.

"So are you guys excited about the skiing trip next week?" Tomoyo asked, changing the subject.

"Which reminds me, Sakura you really should be careful. Remember you're more prone to transforming because of the snow."

"Don't worry Eriol, I already thought about that. I just need to wear real thick clothes, and I'll be very careful to not get any snow on me."

"That's good! Considering I made another snow costume for Sakura-chan and it'll just break my heart if I can't record her wearing it!'

"I think I'm having second thoughts now." She murmured. But when the others laughed at her reaction, she laughed heartily as well with them.

The group continued their snack in peace, talking about what they would do in their field trip. But it seems that the peace was not going to last long.

"Somebody, please help!" the whole park stopped what they were doing when they heard the cry.

A woman in her mid-twenties with long black curls that reached up to her waist, was crying frantically for someone to help. Her son was stuck on a tree. Everyone turned to the tree the woman was pointing at to find a boy who was only about five-years-old, his arms and legs wrapped tightly around the branch, crying for his mommy!

"Sakura! The Float Card!" Kero called out, but before Sakura could summon a Sakura Card, Eriol had stopped her.

"You can't! There are too many people who might see you!"

"I'll use the Time Card and the Float Card!"

"No, you're not yet strong enough to use Time with another card!"

"What do we do?"

Sakura looked up at the child; she knew she needed to think of a way to help him without exposing her powers and quick! 'Think Sakura, think!'

"Tasukete! Mama! I'm scared! Please! Help!" the boy cried his voice hoarse and shivering from his obvious fear of falling. He was shivering, and his face was red and covered with sweat and tears.

"Mama!"

At the shout, she felt the adrenaline pumping into her veins, and on impulse she ran in the direction of the tree and started climbing.

"Sakura! Don't! You're being impulsive!" Kero cried out, trying to reason with the girl.

"Tomoyo call the fire department! Tell them that we need a ladder! And call for an ambulance as well! I'll stay here and see what I can do." Eriol ordered knowing full well that once Sakura has decided on something there was no way to stop her.

As Tomoyo ran off, Eriol looked to see how Sakura was doing. So far she was only half-way near the branch, and it was obvious that she really having a hard time.

"Hey there kid!" she called out to the crying toddler, when she was a little bit closer. "I'm here to help you, so no need to cry. You'll be safe."

"I'm scared!"

"Don't worry, I'm almost there, and then I'll get you down." She explained, though she herself has not yet figured out how they could exactly get down safely, but she continued talking to him, to distract him.

"I want my mommy." He whimpered.

"Don't worry, you'll be with her in a little while."

Sakura smiled when she got to the branch; carefully she crawled towards the trembling boy. "Hey there," she whispered, a bit out of breath, "so tell me how did you get all the way up here?"

While talking to the boy, she was coaxing the boy to let go of the branch and crawl towards the trunk where they could wait safely for help. "Some kids took my toy and threw it at tree."

"Well, were you able to find it?"

"Nooo-" the boy's voice cracked as he started to cry over his lost toy.

"Sakura!"

"Ah! Eriol-kun!"

"You two just stay there and don't move! The fire department's on their way! Just wait a little longer!"

"Hai!" she shouted back, before focusing all her attention back to the boy.

"Oh yeah, we haven't been introduced, I'm Kinomoto Sakura, what's your name?"

"Cho- Cho Ace."

"Well nice to me--" But before she could finish the branch suddenly gave way, the crowd screaming at the sight, fortunately Sakura was able to hold on to part of the branch that didn't break off, and Ace was clinging onto her.

At that moment, the mother's knees gave way at sight, but she was caught by one of the by-standers,

"Give them some room!" Eriol ordered. "Is she alright?" He asked the by-stander, the guy only nodded, it seemed that the mother was in a state of shock but she wasn't unconscious.

"Sakura!" Eriol called out returning his attention to Sakura, "Just hang on!"

"I can't!"

"Yes, you can! I'll just get some help!"

"I'm going to fall! I can't hold on any longer!" Sakura could feel her fingers slipping, and she looked at the child sadly, but when she saw the tears in his eyes she smiled softly at him to comfort him. At the moment she resolved that she wasn't going to let anything happen to the boy. 

"Eriol! I'm falling!"

"Sakuraaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Tomoyo screamed, tears running down her face as she watched her best friend lose her grip on the tree branch.

The crowd screamed at the sight, Sakura was falling and she had wrapped her arms around the boy to shelter him from the drop.

'I didn't exactly want it to end like this...Sayonara…' she thought, thinking back on the life she has spent, and she knew that although it was going to end abruptly, at least she knew that it was a well lived life.

She was ready to welcome Death's cold embrace, instead she got a different embrace.And instead of hitting the hard cold cement, she felt as if she dropped onto something a bit soft, though slightly hard, it was still cushioned.

"Seriously Kinomoto, I had no idea that you were suicidal."

'That voice!' Sakura blushed, and somewhat decided not to open her eyes, she didn't want to look at Syaoran right now after falling on him! She could after all, pretend that she fainted; anyone would have fainted in that situation.

But when she felt the boy in her arms move, she recalled that there was another life that they should be worrying about. Immediately she opened her eyes and sat up, unfortunately for Syaoran, the movement hurting his leg muscles, where Sakura was currently sitting on.

"Ace! Are you okay?"

"H-hai! I think so!" The boy answered, he was shivering from the drop and he had tears brimming his eyes.

Just then, Ace's mother, ran towards the pile, grabbed her son and showered her with kisses as tears of joy came flowing down her cheeks. Syaoran and Sakura could only smile at the affectionate display; from the corner of her eyes, Sakura watched Syaoran but when the brunette caught her looking she immediately looked away.

"Thank you, thank you so much for saving my little boy! I don't know what I would have done if something bad happened...Thank you so much." The mother then cried hugging the two high school kids in gratitude.

"You're very welcome!" Sakura replied, then turned to Ace and smiled, "Take care of yourself from now on, okay?"

"H-hai. Thank you, Sakura Onee-chan!" he whispered, planting a wet kiss on the Sakura's cheek. Then turned to Syaoran and smiled, "Thank you too mister, for catching us."

"It's nothing, sport! Just don't make a habit out of it." He replied ruffling the boy's dark locks.

"I won't, ja!" The boy waved as a paramedic took him.

Sakura kept waving at the boy's retreating figure with a smile on her face, sure she had nearly endangered her life, but after seeing the joy on the boy and on the mother's face she was glad she did it.

"Sakura get off me, you're cutting my circulation." Syaoran stated interrupting Sakura's thought. "Or are you enjoying this?"

Sakura paused at the last statement, making her sit erect and stiff on the boy as blood came running up to her face. "H-hai. Gomen…"

Once the two had been untangled Tomoyo and Eriol ran over to Sakura to check for bruises, until one of the medics came to check up on their wounds.

"Well, we'll have to redress your old wounds; the impact re-opened your old wounds." A medic explained to Syaoran, he turned to get his kit, but when he turned back the boy was already gone.

"Hey get back here, we still need to treat those!"

"I'll do it at my house!" Syaoran shouted back, but paused when he saw Sakura being tended to by one of the paramedics, 'I have a better way of treating it.'

He approached the ambulance, and when the paramedic saw him approaching smiled and winked at Sakura, "It seems that your Knight in Shining Armor wants to talk to you, how about I give you two some privacy." And with that she left a flustered girl.

"She's all yours buddy!" he whispered and patted the Chinese on the shoulder for good measure.

"Li-Li-kun! Thank you for saving my life! I'm really sorry for troubling you, like this..I don't know how to repay you; you've always been so kind to me whenever I need help and you-"

Syaoran had cut her off by placing a finger on her lips, "The next time you feel like doing something stupid, do me a favor and think first." he answered, not really waiting for her reply he leaned in and gave Sakura another kiss, this time on her cheek, then left like he did the last time.

Eriol and Keroberos were standing by the forests, behind Tomoyo who was busy recording the scene that played before them.

"Wow, Syaoran's getting a lot more daring." Eriol congratulated, somehow he felt proud of his somewhat distant relative.

"That kid is harassing Sakura!" Kero cried as he flew to attack the Chinese to avenge his Mistress, but only to be stopped when Eriol pulled him by his wings.

"If it was harassment Sakura could have easily resisted it."

"By the way Eriol, why didn't you just use your powers to save the kid? I mean you could have obviously stopped time, save the kid, and no one would have suspected it!"

"Because, you can't use magic for everything, sometimes, you need to let things happen on their own by nature. Besides if I used magic it won't be half as fun as this!"

Eriol answered as he continued to watch his protégé, Sakura remained seated on the ambulance, her hand on her cheek where Syaoran had kissed her.

Sakura looked dazedly ahead of her, she wasn't looking at anything in particular all she could remember was Syraon's parting words, the feel of his breath ghosting over her and his warm lips against her skin. Honestly she didn't know why Syaoran had kissed her, but whatever it was- she liked it.

**Author's Note: **Woohoo! And there was even a kiss! I hope you guys liked it! It's a little bit short, but don't worry. There'll still be more cute things between the two. I know the characters are a bit OOC, but I'll fix that…

And I'd just like to say thank you for those who continually supported, read and reviewed my fic despite my long updates. I really appreciate it. Thank you and God bless.


	6. Promises

**Author's Note:** One thing that I noticed about my fic is that it seems to be a bit unkind to Meiling, and I happen to like Meiling. True she was a bit annoying at first, but that's because she really loved Syaoran, she loved him so much that she actually let him go later in the series. And because it's too late for me to change the previous chapters, I'm going to make up for it here. But don't worry there's still some SS action/romance/drama/humor.

So just to clear things up, I'm not bashing Meiling, thank you. And well I'm going to start fixing the characterization a bit. It's time to get this fic serious- in terms of my style.

**Lexicon:**

Itai- Ouch

Baka- idiot, stupid and could mean worse than both of them combined.

Ojou-sama- literally means princess, but can be used as young mistress

**Legend: **"speech" 'thought' _"dog bark/talking" 'dog thinking' _

**Chapter 6: Promises**

True to this morning's weather report, the cloudy day was going to end up with strong rain. And the rain did pour; the people at the park had rushed immediately the run back home or look for shelter to wait the rain out. Others just went on with their daily routine, with an umbrella or a raincoat to protect them from the weather.

A strong gust of wind came blowing against a lone figure in the garden; the figure had a sword in his hand, practicing his strikes against the wind. The cold wind bit at his skin, and the droplets of rain fell on his skin heavily as if slapping his skin. But he didn't mind it, his mind was only on one thing and that was to finish his training. The rain proved perfect for sword training, his objective was to be as swift as the wind and to test this he needed to be able to cut as many droplets as he can before they touch the ground.

This training require precision, accuracy and great concentration. His movements were precise, his attack was accurate and his mind was focused at the task at hand. If he loses his concentration then his practice would be ruined.

The blade was currently resting on his finger as he prepared to attack, he was going to strike at the next gush of the wind, and he needed to remain focused if he wanted to get it right. His eyes closed he listened for his next cue, he needed to wait until it was right- and how will he know when to attack, when a leaf from the tree above him should fall. And he needed to slice as many droplets as he can before the leaf falls on the ground making sure that he wouldn't slice the leaf in the process.

'Here it comes!' and just as he was about to attack the droplets a green leaf fell right in front of him, and all of a sudden he stopped his attack, 'Green? Like her eyes…'

As it seemed he shouldn't have stopped mid-way of his attack, because he was currently standing on one foot, his weight leaning forward as he was about to advance. And before it was too late, his line of vision was filled with brown, green and soon black.

Okay so maybe his mind wasn't so focused after all.

"ITAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!" Surprisingly falling on mud could hurt, especially if there are stones underneath the ground.

Since his training was going nowhere at the moment, and the mud had weighted him down the Chinese decided it was best to just clear his mind, think things through, meditate as to why he kept thinking about Sakura and as to why he did what he did earlier. Dropping the sword on the ground, he walked towards the nearest tree so that he could meditate in its warm shade.

'Baka!' he scolded himself, as he placed his palms over his face wiping the mud off him at the same time, "Stupid, stupid, stupid! Meiling is going to kill you when she gets back!"

"You got that right!"

Syaoran froze in his position, not wanting to remove his palms off his face or else he'll have to face his angry fiancée. He knew what he did was wrong, but right now he was confused with so many things that he didn't want to deal with anyone about it yet. He didn't want to explain himself, because he wasn't sure if he could explain anything at all when he didn't understand what happened!

Meiling waited for a response, she was furious! She was humiliated in front of the entire class thanks to her fiancé's little stunt! And now she was furious because Syaoran refused to talk to her about it, when she wanted to talk and she was getting soaked in the rain!

"Okay," she managed to grit out, trying her best to control her temper so as not to throttle the boy. "I know that you don't like the fact that we're betrothed but could you have at least spared me some dignity! It's already hard enough that I can't have your love, but its worst that I can't even have your respect!"

"Meiling, please let me explain!" Syaoran cried standing up to face his cousin, only to be surprised with the sight that greeted him. He had never seen Meiling that way before, she was soaking wet, her clothes clung to her like skin, her hair was plastered on her face and everywhere they could reach. She had mud stains all over her face and clothes, her breathing was haggard obviously from running- or maybe from her crying.

Her eyes were red and swollen, hot tears that refused to stop kept streaming down her eyes mixing with the droplets of the cold rain that fell on her face. Her pain was evident in her face, and somehow it hurt him knowing that he had caused it. He may not have loved Meiling as his fiancée but he loved her like a sister.

"Then go, explain yourself! Tell me why you had a sudden urge to kiss the Card Mistress in front of her ENTIRE class! A class which by the way has your fiancée in it who happened to be humiliated by your impulsive act! Please! I'm dying to hear the explanation!"

"I didn't mean for it to happen!" he cried out, well he really didn't mean for it to happen, all he thought of at that time was that if he kissed Sakura, then all the girls in the class would ravage her. Well that was what he told himself after he kissed her; the truth was he just felt like kissing her. But in the end, he still didn't mean for anything to happen- so in the end he was telling her the truth!

"Then what? What did you mean to happen by kissing her? What did you hope to gain?"

"Nothing!"

"Then why? Why did you kiss her?" she asked her voice desperate, she was afraid of the answer, but she hated not knowing more. So she asked, and she hoped for an honest answer, and she knew that Syaoran would never lie to her. But then again, she used to know that Syaoran would never intentionally hurt her, but he did…so maybe he might lie to her as well.

"What does it matter it was only a kiss on the cheek, it's not like I kissed her on the lips, the kiss meant nothing!" Syaoran replied, hoping to change the subject, he didn't want to answer her question. Because he didn't know what to say and so he only looked away.

"Xiao Lang!"

The sound of his Chinese name was enough to bring his attention back to Mei Ling, it had been so long since he's heard his name. And the way she said it, the way she spat it- it was like a heavy curse to her mouth, a name that left a bitter taste to her lips and to his ears.

"Look at me and answer my question! Why did you kiss her?"

"I don't know! I don't know so stop asking me because I don't know either! Alright? Are you happy now? I answered your question!" Needless to say, Meiling was taken aback by the fact that Syaoran raised his voice at her; he had never done that before, at least not seriously. "I don't know why I kissed her." He continued more softly this time.

"But it doesn't matter…" he whispered trying to break the tension between them.

"Yes it does!" she shouted, her face angry with fury, how could it not matter? She was humiliated in front of her class; ever since she got there she had proudly announced that she was Syaoran's fiancée! Sure she the announcement had seemed uncalled for, but she wanted to make sure that no other girl would dare look at him or hope for a relationship. With that announcement came the notion that Syaoran loved her, but now people were probably laughing behind her back.

"You tricked me! You ruined me! Because of what you did people are probably thinking that you cheated on me and that I allowed it to happen! You kissed her right in front of me! Couldn't you have saved us from the shame? If you love her you should've just told me so we'll end this stupid engagement so I can stop hoping that I'll still have a chance in your heart!"

"Meiling, please listen to me, I-"

"No you listen to me! You're engaged to me! And I know that you don't like it but please act like it! You're not like other guys, all your actions don't just reflect on you but on me as well! You ruined both our names and even Kinomoto's!"

At the mention of her name, Syaoran's eyes had widened and his body stiffened. Was Meiling just defending Sakura?

"Yes as crazy as it sounds, and as much as I dislike Kinomoto I still respect her! But what you did- because of you people think that she's your fling! People are beginning to think badly of you, me and her! It's always like this when there's a third party! It's not just about you Syaoran, so before you do anything stupid I suggest you think about the people you'll be bringing down with you!"

And still Syaoran had said nothing; he only stood there with his head bowed as Meiling attacked him with words. Her every word felt like a whip in his heart, and he took it, because he deserved it. Her breathing was hard and labored, she was feeling so many emotions right now, and she felt angry, confused, humiliated, hurt and betrayed.

"All I ever wanted was to have your heart, is that so hard to give?"

She waited for him to say something, anything that will help ease her pain. Or at least let her know that she had somehow talked some sense into him. But nothing came. Once she was finished, she remained standing there, facing him.

His silence was even more painful, and it was too much for her to bear, so without a word she left. Meiling ran into the mansion, and into her only sanctuary-her room and in the comforting arms of her only friends- her pillows, blanket and bed. There she was safe, there she can pour out her feelings and no one would hurt her, there she had a friend.

While Meiling was crying on her bed, Syaoran was left standing in their garden; the rain if possible had gotten heavier. The drops had felt like it was punishing him for making a girl cry. Meiling was right, he wasn't thinking- in fact for the past few days he had been acting weird and his actions had brought upon an unpleasant outcome.

"Li-kun?"

The voice had somewhat woken him from his pondering, but somehow he had wished that she wasn't going to show up. But it couldn't be helped, because their mansion was on the way to her house.

Slowly he turned to face the person who had been the cause of his confusion and his irrationality. She was standing there, a pink umbrella over her and with a smile on her face.

"You might get sick if you keep standing out in the rain like that." From her statement Syaoran had suspected that she had probably just arrived and was unaware of the fight that had occurred earlier.

The Card Mistress walked inside the garden hoping to share her umbrella with Syaoran, she had hoped to see Syaoran to talk with him. Ever since before she wanted to befriend Syaoran, and when he had kissed her earlier she thought that maybe Syaoran was opening up to her. 'Maybe being his pet was not so bad after all…he's finely warming up to me.'

But she was wrong, because when Syaoran had seen her he was filled with a different emotion. Maybe if she had shown up before Meiling he would have been a bit welcoming, but she showed up after his fight with his cousin, she showed up at the wrong time. When she had walked in the gate, he felt his walls build up, his anger mounting.

"What are you doing here?" he asked the moment Sakura got in front of him, an umbrella now on top of him to protect him from the rain.

His voice was cold and sharp, and it completely took Sakura off-guard.

"I-I just wanted to-" she stammered, the way Syaoran had looked at her made her blood run cold. He wasn't like this to her before! Sure he used to be insulting, and distant, but he never looked at her with such anger before. 'What happened to the other Li-kun that was so sweet to me a while ago? I thought we could finally be friends!'

"Wanted to what?" he cut her off, grabbing her by the wrist, squeezing.

"Li-kun you're hurting me!"

"This is all your fault! Ever since you fell into that stupid spring and became a wolf that things started turning weird for me!" Syaoran cried as Sakura tried to get out of his grip, she knew that it would later leave a bruise.

"What are you talking about? What did I do?"

"Don't play dumb! You know what you did! Get out of here! Get of my life! I don't ever want to see you again!" he shouted as he pushed her. But instead of Sakura hitting the ground, a red cub fell into the mud instead. A cub that looked sadly at him, her sad green eyes were looking at him and then at her surroundings, she was frightened and confused-probably wondering what she did to deserve her master's anger.

"Hana!" he cried out, the only thing that had a soft spot in his heart was looking up at him sadly. He never meant to push Hana away, but Hana came along with Sakura because no matter how much he didn't like it- the two of them were still one. Just Syaoran was about to pat the cub to comfort the frightened cub, she had backed away from his hand and started to bark angrily at him.

"_Don't touch me! I'll bite you! Don't come any closer! I hate you!" _ She cried, and though Syaoran didn't understand what she had said, he knew what she meant. She was scared of him for pushing her and shouting at her, she was confused because of her two minds: her instinct as a puppy to stay with her master and as Sakura who was hurt and pushed away.

But her will was still stronger than her instincts, after all she still is human, so she ran into the mansion leaving Syaoran once again.

He never meant to shout at Sakura, he hadn't meant to pour his anger towards her- an anger that should have been for him! He wasn't thinking, and because of that, because he acted on impulse and was irrational he had hurt his cousin, his only friend-Hana, and confused Sakura. Now he was tangled in a web of confusion he had spun and he didn't know how to get out.

SsSsSsSsS

"Ojou-sama? Please open the door." A worried Wei called out as he coaxed the crying girl out of her room to eat some dinner. He was worried that she might get sick, she had gone inside soaking wet and now she said that she didn't want to eat anything for dinner. Not to mention that Syaoran was still not coming back inside.

"Ojou-sama…" he knocked again, as he pressed his ear to the door to listen to her reply.

"I said I'm not hungry! Just leave me alone! I want to be alone!"

With a sigh the old butler nodded and left. He really was getting too old for these things. His two young charges were having problems, and he couldn't help the two of them, the only thing he can do is hope that somehow they'll be able to find a way to solve it, and soon.

After some time she had calmed down considerably, her pillow cases needed changing though…

The young girl was currently sitting on her bed with a picture frame in her hand; the picture was an old photo of her with Syaoran. In the picture she her arms wrapped around an annoyed Syaoran who was pushing her away at the same time.

"I really thought I had a chance, that you would let me in…but I guess, I'm just really not good enough…" she whispered as she traced Syaoran's outline with her finger, but stopped when a tear drop fell on the glass cover.

"W-why am I still crying for you? It should've stopped by now, I'm supposed to be feeling better already!" she cried convincing herself that she was already okay, but with every comforting word she tried to offer herself she only ended up hurting herself more. Every time she tried to encourage herself, only the opposite would happen- and she'd end up crying more than she had last time.

She hated it! She hated the feeling of being so weak! She was wrong to think that just because Syaoran had agreed to marry her it doesn't mean that he wouldn't ever fall in love with anyone else. He never promised her his heart. And she never had control over it, and she hated it.

Now she had lost him completely! He had fallen for the Card Mistress! The thought felt like her heart were being torn into long thin shreds slowly. "Does a heartbreak really have to hurt this much! I can't take this anymore! Stop!"

She pleaded with her heart, as she pressed the frame onto her heart hoping to ease the pain. Somehow her heartbreak, was causing physical pain, she could feel her chest tightening! "Please stop, stop hurting! You have to be strong Meiling! You need to stop crying! Stop…"

Just as she was about to enter another bout of crying, she was stopped when she heard a scratching sound on her door. _"Meiling-chan?"_

Slowly she opened the door, only to find Syaoran's pet. Her eyes narrowed at the cub, "What are you doing here? I don't want to see you; you're my other competition to Syaraon's heart."

Hurt by her accusations, Hana could only lick Meiling's toes, trying her best to apologize. She really wanted to be with someone right now, but her master didn't want her and Wei had seemed trouble, and Meiling was her only choice. "Stop bothering me, why don't you go to Syaoran instead, he loves you more than he could ever love me!"

"_No way!" _she barked out, then letting out a growl at the thought of her master. Meiling could only giggle at the puppy's reaction, carefully she picked up the cub and carried her into her room.

"I guess your mad at Syaoran too, huh? Oh well, you've come to the right place. Ara! Look at you, you're all wet!"

Once inside she places the cub on her bed then left to get some towels to dry the cub with. She had returned quickly and immediately initiated the task at hand, welcoming the distraction. Since she was busying herself with something, she was somehow able to forget her problems and Syaoran temporarily.

After a few minutes of constant rubbing, and fidgeting on Hana's part, Hana was completely dry and because she was towel dried her fur was standing on all ends that she looked like a red afro! Meiling laughed at the sight, and had immediately looked for her camera, to take a picture of the poor wolf cub.

Needless to say Hana was not a very cooperative model, she had jumped off the bed and had done her best to hide from Meiling and her camera. She had planned to hide behind the study desk, but thanks to her hair she couldn't fit!

"Aha! Gotcha! Okay now, Hana, smile!"

"_Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo! Wah! Stop! The flash is hurting my eyes! No more pictures!"_

"Okay, okay, no more pictures…Gee Hana I didn't know you were so shy…" she giggled as she helped the cub out of the desk and carried the cute animal with her on the bed as she grabbed a brush from her vanity table.

"Well I guess you aren't so bad after all…" she whispered as she plopped the camera on the bed, and proceeded to tame Hana's wild fur.

Hana had sat still, enjoying Meiling's pampering, she had to admit though she enjoyed Syaoran's playfulness she enjoyed the fact the Meiling was babying her. _'A girl can get used to this.'_

"There, good as new." She announced, as she finished putting a big yellow ribbon around Hana's neck. Hana in turn, jumped off Meiling's lap and headed directly at the mirror to admire herself. "Well aren't you the vain one?"

Obviously pleased with what she saw, she turned to thank her mistress only to find that she was now looking at a frame. And whatever it was that was on the frame, it had seemed to make her mistress sad. Carefully, Hana approached and placed a paw on Meiling's foot.

"Huh? Oh sorry…" she answered, carrying the cub into her arms once again to give her a better view of what she was looking at.

"That's us." She stated pointing at them, immediately Hana had growled at the scowling picture of Syaoran, but Meiling had reprimanded him. "Don't be like that, he may seem annoying and mean sometimes, but he's really a wonderful person."

"Hey Hana, do you want to know how I fell in love with Syaoran?"

"_Sure!"_

"It was simple really…

"I was never really close to Syaoran, for me he was always too scary and too serious, so I never had anything to do with him. Well except for the fact that he's my cousin and that we took martial arts lessons together, but even then we never really talked.

Then when we were ten, our parents told us that we were betrothed! I was so mad at them for forcing me to marry a scary man like him that I locked myself in my room and cried!"

At this Meiling laughed at the memory, ruffling Hana's fur, she continued with her story. "That night, Syaoran went to my room to talk. He sat right outside the door and he said to me…"

_Flashback_

"Do you hate me that much?" a young Xiao Lang asked as he sat in front of his new fiancée's bedroom, his back facing the door. "Do you hate me that much that the thought of marrying me would make you cry?"

"Yes! I want to marry someone who's not scary and mean…someone who's kind and brave! I want to marry someone I love, someone who can take care of me, feed me, protects me, and always makes me happy!" Meiling answered facing the door.

Xiao Lang did not answer, at this Meiling dropped her head…she was trapped in this horrible marriage and she was helpless! How could she love someone like him, how could she ever be happy with him?!

"I'll be kind…" Meiling's head shot up at hearing his words, "I won't be mean to you, no matter how you annoy me, and I won't ever hurt you. I'll take care of you, I'll feed you, I'll protect you and I'll make you happy. I'll give you everything you want, I'll do my best to keep your smile. But you must do something for me in return…"

"And what's that?"

"Stay…stay by my side always."

"W-why?" she asked her voice cracked from crying too long.

"Because I've never had someone- I never had any friends, and you're probably the only person who'll be my friend in all of this, after all we are now in the same boat. I want you to be my friend…you don't have to love me, all you have to do is stay with me always, and I'll do my best to make you happy. Let's make this marriage work out, somehow…"

_End of Flashback_

"_Syaoran said that?"_

Giggling, she took the cub and placed her over her chest as she lay down on the bed. "He asked me to stay by his side- that was all he ever asked of me. And as he did his best to fulfill his promise to keep me happy, I ended up falling in love with him. So I stayed by his side always, like he had asked me to, I did it not because I agreed to, but because I was in love with him and that was all I ever wanted to do- to just stay by his side forever.

But I made one mistake…I forgot to ask him to love me. All I ever said was what would make me fall in love with someone and I never mentioned that he should love me…so he doesn't love me…he takes care of me, feeds me, protects me and always tries to make me happy but he cannot love me…"

Fresh warm tears one again started pouring down the side of Meiling's head, somehow her eyes were now familiar with the burning feeling of the salty water that came out of her eyes.

Seeing her mistress cry, Hana immediately started licking Meiling's cheek, _"Please don't cry…it's going to be okay, so please stop crying…"_

"I'm okay, Hana…it was my fault anyway…I guess I didn't ask him to love me because I thought that you can only do those things if you love that person…I guess I should've been more specific with him."

_KNOCK! KNOCK!_

"Wei, I said I'm not hungry…" Meiling called out as she hurriedly wiped the trails of tears that marked her face once again.

"I'm not Wei." Syaoran's strong deep voice resonated through the room, at the sound of his voice Meiling had immediately got off the bed and approached the door. "There's something I need to show you."

Hearing footsteps leading away from her door, Meiling immediately opened to door to find that Syaoran had already started walking as if he was sure that Meiling would really follow him. And he was right, because Meiling followed him and Hana followed Meiling.

The walk was long and silent, but Meiling had kept a strong look, she kept her posture straight as if nothing had happened. Syaoran was no different as well.

'_They're both pretty calm…'_

Syaoran led her to a dark room, but when he had turned on the light it was later revealed to be a small library in the mansion. Without a word he entered the room, pulled out a book and faced Meiling.

"Do you still remember my promise?"

Meiling only looked up in response to his question, not realizing that she had looked down to escape having to look at him. From her reaction Syaoran could surmise that she still did remember their promise. Warily Syaoran handed her the brown book, "I never really was able to keep it, was I?"

"I promised to take care of you, feed you, protect you- I was able to do all those, but I wasn't able to make you happy…because you were always hurting, you were always sad because I couldn't love you…"

"Syaoran…" she protested but she was only silenced by a finger on her lips.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, taking her hands into his once their hands were joined, Syaoran pulled onto Meiling's hands and on the book to reveal a key in the middle of the book. "But I'm going to change that. Meiling, I want to take care of you, protect you, to be the one who makes you happy- so I'm giving you this key. It's the key to my heart, and only you can open it."

With shaky fingers Meiling took the key into her hands, and pressed it against her chest as tears once again came running down her face which Syaoran immediately wiped away. "Please, I don't ever want to see you cry again…I want to make you happy."

"I don't want this…don't give me your heart out of pity. Forget that stupid promise! I stayed with you not because of that promise- I stayed with you because I love you! I don't want to force you into doing something you don't want to just because we made some stupid promise! Don't give me the key to your heart if it already belongs to Kinomoto!"

"It doesn't belong to her! I never loved her and I never will! Kinomoto means nothing to me!"

At hearing those words both Meiling and Hana were taken aback. Hana wanted to cry right then and there, she wanted to leave, she wanted to turn back into her human form run to Tomoyo's arms and cry, but she couldn't. Somehow a part of her told her to stay, to keep on listening.

"The kiss never meant anything to me, besides Kinomoto is in love with her Moon Guardian, she never wanted to have the key to my heart. She's not important…"

'_Stop! Please stop talking!'_

"I'm giving you this key not because of that promise- but because you asked for it. And I wanted to give it to you. You know I'm not good at this, I've never let anyone into my heart and I don't exactly know how to love, but I promise you this Meiling, for you I'll learn how to love."

"So you're going to love me just because I asked you to love me, not because you feel like loving me."

"A heart can be taught how to love, just as how it can be taught how to hate."

"Yes, you can teach a heart to love, but you cannot teach it to love me the way I want to be loved back because it isn't willing." At this Meiling placed the palm that had the key on Syaoran's chest, where his heart laid beating. Red eyes met brown, "If I can't have all of it, I don't want part of it. You may not be in love with Kinomoto, but who's to say that somewhere along the line you won't meet someone who'll you really end up loving? So you better give me all your heart, so you won't ever fall in love with anyone else."

Cupping her face into his callous palms, Syaoran pulled her gently so her head was resting right above his heart. "Can you hear that? From now on I'm dedicating myself to you; my heart now beats for you, and only you."

At a loss for words, for the first time that night Meiling could only wrap her arms around Syaoran. She didn't know how to feel, she was supposed to be happy now that Syaoran had promised to love her, right? But how come she kept feeling so bad, as if that love was never meant for her? Was she doing anything wrong? 'It wasn't my choice to force him to love me, it was his. Syaoran wanted to love me.'

Hana could only look away, she was not needed here and she didn't want to see them like that. Seeing them, seeing Meiling in Syaoran's arms made her heart ache- and she had never felt this kind of ache before. All of it was so new to her, why was she hurting? Shouldn't she be happy for Meiling? But why, why was it hurting her so badly that Meiling is so happy with Syaoran?

'_Because if Meiling is in his heart, then there's no room for me.'_ She realized, taking a step back, Hana felt a whimper coming out of her throat but was stopped when she saw Syaoran looking at her directly then immediately looked away as he tightened his embrace around his fiancée.

'_Why should I hurt because of that? He's right, I'm not in love with him…I don't love him…'_

Her eyes widened as she remembered his painful words echo in her mind, "She's not important."

'_I-I'm not important…the kiss meant nothing…he was only playing- it wasn't real!'_

Completely new and confused to these feelings Sakura did the only thing that her heart told her to do. _RUN!_

SsSsSsSsS

That night Syaoran lay on his bed watching his ceiling, he needed to make sure that no one would steal his ceiling while he slept so he opted to skip sleeping and guard his wonderful white heavy ceiling.

Okay, so maybe he wasn't actually watching his ceiling, the real reason why he had stayed awake was because of what had happened earlier that day. So many things had happened- it was a roller coaster of emotions and it felt like his coaster just crashed.

A while ago he had been confused by everything, but when he stayed under the rain after Sakura had left him he had done some thinking. And all those confusions had a logical answer. He really loved meditating.

First he found that he had a certain physical attraction to the Card Mistress, which he blamed on the fact that recently he had been seeing a lot of her and MORE than what he needed to see. Then he had surmised that the kiss was nothing but an act of lust, after all he was still a teenage boy with large amounts of testosterone. But because of this, he lost control, and because he lost control he ended up leaving two girls confused and hurt so he needed to make amends.

He knew that he really didn't have much problem with Kinomoto, after all she was in love with someone else, the only thing he did was confuse her about his feelings towards her. And well made her seem like a third party in front of her class, which he was sure would be easy to fix…

So what he had really focused on was Meiling, the one who got hurt in all of his actions. He knew of Meiling's pain, and he knew that Meiling wouldn't want to be loved out of pity- but that really wasn't the reason why he gave Meiling his heart. It was really because somehow he knew that he was meant to love Meiling, after all she already loved him, so all he had to do was love her back.

The matchmaker even said that they were a perfect match; why else would they betroth her to him if they weren't? So it was bound to happen, it was the inevitable; according to the matchmaker they were destined to love one another. 'But if it's destiny, why does it feel so wrong?'

Sighing he grabs one of his pillows and places it over his head. 'Maybe I just need to get used to the idea…maybe I should put in some effort into loving Meiling?'

"Li-kun?"

The sound of the familiar voice had woken him from his thoughts and was surprised to find that there in his room, stood one Sakura Kinomoto, in her human form and wearing one of his shirts…_again._

"H-how did you?"

"I ran the hot bath myself…"

"Are you leaving?"

"Yes, I've caused you guys too much trouble already…I really don't know why, but somehow every time I transform I find myself drawn to you, as if I want to be with you, to stay with you."

At her words Syaoran stiffened, why would Sakura want to stay with him? "It's not your fault…this is all my fault, what happened to me and Meiling was my fault…I'm sorry, for pulling you into this mess- I'm sorry for- for that…kiss."

"No, please don't be sorry…when you kissed me I liked it…" she answered, slowly walking towards Syaoran's bed. "When you kissed me I felt like it was special, that there was something, some other reason why you kissed me."

The sight was not helping the bed's occupant as well. Sakura was wearing a large white shirt over her body, and as the moon illuminated her, her skin was glowing ethereally and the shirt had served to accentuate her curves.

And as she got nearer, Syaoran could feel his hormones acting up again! 'Crap do something!' Immediately he got off the bed and walked over to one of his drawers. "Well don't think about it much, the kiss meant nothing."

"I heard what you said earlier- but after some time I kept wondering how can someone kiss another person and not let it mean anything? Do you know the essence of a kiss Li-kun?"

"Listen there are a lot of kisses in this world, there's one for love, one for lust, and one for nothing- and that was the kiss I gave you. I kissed you so every girl in your class would attack you so I could get even with you; I kissed you in the park because-"

"Liar!" she hissed as she followed him, but as she got closer Syaoran had turned to her and wrapped a jacket around her body.

"Why do you want so much for that kiss to mean something?" he asked as he pulled away from her and returned to sitting on his bed. "What if I told you I kissed you because I found you attractive, will that change anything between us?"

"I had hoped-"

"It won't." The Chinese answered coldly, cutting her answer at the same time refusing to meet her gaze, he had already made his decision, he was going to love Meiling. "I kissed you out of mere lust, nothing more, nothing less. So tell me do you think that's good enough to change anything between us? Will you all of a sudden stop loving Yukito because someone kissed you on the cheek out of lust?

"I'm sorry Kinomoto, but I think that lust is not a good enough basis for us to start a relationship and for me to destroy the one I already have with Meiling."

Sakura could only nod, what Syaoran said made sense. Why did it matter to her so much for that kiss to mean something? She was in love with Yukito, and now Syaoran had Meiling, so what was she still doing there? What was she waiting for?

"I had hoped-" she replied hoping to continue what she was trying to say earlier, but once again she was cut off.

"What were you hoping for, for us to at least be friends? Don't forget I'm angry with you for stealing my position as the Clow Master, because of you my clan thinks I'm too weak to be their leader because I couldn't even defeat a girl like you. If my kiss had confused you, then let me clear things up for you." At this the boy got up from the bed to face the young girl. She was currently clutching onto his jacket, covering herself as if hoping that it could shield her from his glare.

"I promise to leave you alone, so promise me that you stay out of my life as well. Especially when you transform! All of this blasted confusion happened because you were clumsy enough to fall into that cursed spring! So I'm clearing this up once and for all! I want to have nothing do with you! So you stay out of my life and I'll stay out of yours- that way you won't ever have to be confused. Got it?"

He was right; it all started because of the stupid spring, and because whenever she transformed she always went to him. Truth be told she really didn't know why whenever she became a cub that she always wanted to be with Li, but it seems that because of that she had caused a big mess for all of them. And Syaoran's plan would help really help lessen the complication. All they needed to do was to stay away from one another.

'I can do that…I can promise him that…'

Subconsciously she found herself tracing her fingers towards the choker that Syaoran had given her- no Hana.

"What are you still doing here? I thought you were going to leave…"

When she didn't answer he turned to look at her and was surprised to find that she had taken the Sword Card and had sliced off the choker off her neck! The sword at the same time slicing her skin, the cut was not so deep but there was still a certain amount of blood that dripped on the shirt and on his bedroom floor.

"Baka! What do you think you're doing?" he scolded, rushing to her side to suppress the bleeding by pressing his handkerchief over the cut. But she didn't answer, all that she did was hand him the bloodied collar.

"Because I thought if I'd stay a little bit longer, I'd see the loving Syaoran that Hana loves so much. But I guess I was wrong…" she answered, her voice choking as she tried her best to swallow to the sobs that threatened to come out. She didn't want Syaoran to see her cry; she didn't want him to know that what he said had affected her greatly. "I promise to never bother you again."

And with that she summoned the Fly Card and left.

She left Syaoran's room; the boy had stayed there on the spot where he had been standing when he was talking to Sakura. On his one hand was Hana's broken collar, and on the other was his white handkerchief with bloodstains all over it.

**Author's Note:** One of the reasons why I don't hate Meiling is because she was so sacrificial- and because I know what it likes not to get the guy. Not everyone can be like Sakura…even in their own love story…

Hehehe, anyway let's get over my drama shall we? I know it's all drama, but I felt that it was the right thing to happen, don't worry there's still be lots of humor! Anyway I hope you enjoyed it! Please leave a nice review and thank you for your continuing support! I love you all! Mwah!

**PLEASE READ MY OTHER FICS! THANK YOU!**


	7. A Cure for a Broken Heart

**Chapter 7: A Cure for a Broken Heart**

_Previously…_

"_Because I thought if I'd stay a little bit longer, I'd see the loving Syaoran that Hana loves so much. But I guess I was wrong…" she answered, her voice choking as she tried her best to swallow to the sobs that threatened to come out. She didn't want Syaoran to see her cry; she didn't want him to know that what he said had affected her greatly. "I promise to never bother you again."_

_And with that she summoned the Fly Card and left._

_She left Syaoran's room; the boy had stayed there on the spot where he had been standing when he was talking to Sakura. On his one hand was Hana's broken collar, and on the other was his white handkerchief with bloodstains all over it._

The next day arrived soon, and with people dreading its arrival. As expected the rumor regarding Syaoran's infidelity had started to spread and got wilder as it moved from one person to the next. But Syaoran and Meiling, having already expected this, decided that the best course of action was to show a united front and maintained innocence regarding the matter.

The kiss was just a kiss. It was a friendly kiss on the cheek, nothing more, nothing less. And that's what they kept telling themselves and anyone who would be stupid enough to ask them.

Keeping up with the act, of course they continued to practice their usual routine of Syaoran walking the other to her classroom, and later have lunch, then go home together. It was best to act as if nothing has changed. Because nothing has changed.

Once Meiling has settled into her classroom, she immediately walked towards Sakura's desk.

At this everyone in the classroom stopped and waited for what will happen next with baited breath. Will there be a fight? A slap? Should someone call the teacher? Should someone be recording this to post this later on the net? No matter what the question was popping into their classmates' head, not one moved.

Sakura only looked up and smiled at Meiling, despite the fact that she was also unsure as to what will happen next. "Yes, Meiling?"

To her surprise, and everyone else's, Meiling simply leaned forward and with delicate fingers tilted her chin upwards—and a kiss on each side of her cheeks. And with a clear voice said, "I never got to thank you for helping me resolve my fight with Syaoran, thank you for talking to him yesterday."

A little bit unsure, Sakura nodded her head and answered her with the standard "You're welcome." Meiling smiled once again, and headed off to her seat, and everyone returned to whatever they were doing previously.

Tomoyo, who momentarily stopped by Meiling's actions, continued towards her table beside Sakura. Seating herself properly before muttering to Sakura, "It seems that Meiling and Syaoran has discovered a way to kill the rumors. I must admit that was a pretty smart move."

Sakura turned Tomoyo with a questioning look, but instead of receiving an answer she was simply given the time to contemplate the answer for herself.

'Meiling kissed me…and she thanked me for helping her resolve her fight between Syaoran? But I never—OH! I get it! They're making it seem as if the kiss that Syaoran gave me was for the same reason that Meiling had given me the kiss as well.'

Recognizing the shine of clarity on her best friend's eyes, Tomoyo nodded, "Yes, it was truly clever of them. And they're putting up a really good front, I won't be surprised if this rumor dies out within this week."

"Yes, but I also have to play along."

"Will you?" Tomoyo asked in a nonchalant manner as she hid the fact that she noticed the sad tinge in the other's voice.

"Just because I'm playing along, doesn't mean I'm denying the truth from myself. I don't want to get in trouble as much as they do, but I'll be playing along for a different reason than theirs."

Just as Tomoyo was about to ask, Mr. Terada entered the classroom to formally start their homeroom. "I think we need to continue this later."

Sakura only nodded with a smile on her face.

And it may be a surprise, but the smile she has put on her face is not a mask. Because after last night's event, she was able to realize something. Something that lifted her spirits, something that made her forget the pain of Syaoran's words.

Without much rumors going around, the day continued slowly as usual for the students as they listened to their teachers, worked on their exercises, and jotted down their homework. Lunch came quickly after that, and the promised talk between two best friends commenced underneath their favorite spot.

"Okay, tell me what happened."

Sakura did as she was asked, recounting from when she saw Syaoran standing in the rain up to her using the Fly card to get back home.

"But I realized," Sakura continued, "that I'm only feeling this pain because of Hana. Remember Eriol told us that the spring contained the spirit of a wolf and it is that spirit that entered my body and is causing me to transform? So I'm guessing that it's like I have two personalities within me. And it's Hana who was in love with Syaoran. I just confused my feelings because I was feeling whatever Hana was feeling since we share the same body. The reason why my heart jumped after he kissed me was because Hana was excited by the affection of her master, and I only cried last night, because Hana was crying.

"So in reality, this really has nothing to do with me. I'm not the one who is hurting."

"So… you're really okay?" Tomoyo asked, her lunch still untouched as she waited for Sakura to finish her story.

"Yup!" Sakura answered as she opened her bento started to eat with gusto. Everything was so much clearer, especially now that she has classified and organized the mixed and confusing feelings she was having.

Two souls in one body was a hard matter, but she figured she could deal with it.

Tomoyo smiled back and started eating from her lunch box as well. Their conversations returning to normal as well talking about the latest costumes that Tomoyo has designed and scheduling a photo shoot for said costumes.

Now that Sakura's feelings has been sorted out…what about Hana's broken heart?

Syaoran was also having a normal day, no one ever questioned him regarding the Kinomoto affair and he had his scary persona to thank for that. No, he wasn't really mean and scary towards his classmates, in fact he got along with all of them. But they also knew that sometimes he can be scary, and with a black belt under his name, everyone knew not to mess with him unless they can defend themselves.

Li Syaoran can happily say that the rumor had died down on his side and everything has gone back to normal.

As soon as his lunch with Meiling had ended he headed to his locker to retrieve his books where hee also found a small note inside. Checking to see if anyone around the perimeter was watching him, and once he was sure that no one was he opened the letter and was surprised to find that it was from Sakura.

He wanted to ignore it, after all didn't he just promise himself to stay away from Sakura? But another part in his mind told him that he shouldn't because Sakura deserved a chance to speak with him and say whatever she needed to say.

Not wanting to remain in his mental debate Syaoran immediately crumpled the note dumping it into the trash can while noting himself that he had a meeting with the Card Mistress later after school at the rooftop.

But the reason he supplied himself with as to why he chose to meet with her was not because he wanted to hear what Sakura had to say and it certainly not because he wanted to cause anymore trouble on Meiling as he already did, the only reason he had was that he wanted to see her.

**Author's Note:** I hope you don't mind this short chapter, when I tried to update this, I realized that I had a big problem. And that was the fact that this fic seemed to be going nowhere…and fast. All because everything was happening too quickly and I was writing without a plan.

So now to correct it without having to do a total re-vamping of the story that you came to love, I decided to make things go slow with the development of the relationships. So tell me if my pathetic attempt worked or if you're just really happy to know that I updated. XD!

The next chapter will be better. I assure you.


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